


Shelter.

by FeliciaAmelloides



Series: A Oneshot a Day... [90]
Category: Shelter: The Animation (2016 Short Film), nonfandom
Genre: Angst, Death, Dystopia, Exposition, Future, Gen, It’s only based off of shelter sorry, Labels, corrupt government, simulations, some violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-30
Updated: 2018-03-30
Packaged: 2019-04-17 00:50:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14176971
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FeliciaAmelloides/pseuds/FeliciaAmelloides
Summary: Real life is a simulation.When people die, they wake up.





	Shelter.

**Author's Note:**

> I’M SO SORRY FOR NOT UPDATING IN THREE DAYS!
> 
> I’ve been in a tiny caravan park in Wales, miles away from the nearest town and with no mobile service or WiFi. I wanted to write all the oneshots while I was away, but only wrote this one because I suck;;;
> 
> Okay, story wise...
> 
> This one is a concept I like but couldn't get down into words so it isn’t very good. It’s inspired by the 2016 animation Shelter (amazing by the way) and the protagonist Rea is a Rin faceclaim (I’m lazy). Please read the end notes if you’d like to know what should have happened!

“Rea... Wait! REA!” A strangled shout.

The screech of tyres.

A loud thump.

“Another death...” The bored looking teenager in a HAZMAT suit mumbled as she tapped a few numbers into her calculator and wrote them down on a big interactive screen. The screen emitted a beeping sound before several files automatically opened, spreading across it until the entire surface was covered in charts and word documents.

She drew a particular file from the mess and entered its access code so she could change its status. Just four letters and the simulation would end for the girl her team had picked up a few weeks ago. It had taken a long time to gain access to her files. Clearly she was an important specimen. 

One click and the girl was awake. Her eyelids fluttered open slowly and she immediately winced, struggling to take in the bright light. The HAZMAT teenager turned to her, apathetic stare never leaving her face. 

“Rea Sukimoto? No, don’t talk. You only just left Earth. There’s a high chance of your brain exploding if you speak.” Rea squeaked in terror, then slapped her hands over her mouth and looked up at the other girl with wide hazel eyes.

“Let me explain,” She continued without missing a beat, “The life you just ended? A lie. You were in a simulation developed by our crumbling world leaders to determine which people would be able to bring our world back to its former glory or something. I am part of a group of people who are trying to rescue those we deem important from the machine. You are considered important. We think you might be able to help us.”

Silence.

Then the girl remembered she’d told Rea not to speak.

“I was kidding about your brain exploding by the way. Nothing’ll happen to you. Well, not now anyway.” Rea gasped as if she’d been holding her breath and shot a quick glare at the HAZMAT girl.

“That was mean!” She huffed, crossing her arms indignantly.

“Not as mean as keeping innocent babies prisoners for years.” HAZMAT replied easily.

“W-wait! You mean... I’ve been in a simulation for my entire life?” Rea’s expression was so comical that HAZMAT smirked. She nodded smoothly.

“Then... I’m not dead? This isn’t Heaven?” This time HAZMAT openly laughed, not caring if Rea gawked at her or not. When she had wiped the early formations of tears from her eyes, she responded through gasping breaths,

“Kid, if you were dead then this would definitely be Hell.” Rea gasped, possibly offended by the notion that she would go to Hell after death.

“So... why am I here?” She finally asked, expression becoming more serious as she pondered her existence. Surprisingly, she was fairly calm about the situation. Then again, HAZMAT had found that a lot of important people they brought in were.

“Like I said, you’re important. See, my team’s job is to spread a special virus around Earth which will destroy it. The people on Earth are all given a random code as soon as they enter the simulation which gives them life, but for some reason our virus only affects some people. A rare few, like you, are immune. So with that said,” HAZMAT approached Rea and pulled her from the wires connecting her body to some kind of contraption behind her, slowly leading her from the room and down an industrial grey corridor, “We don’t need you.” She finished coldly.

“What sort of virus?” Rea chose her words carefully. Something about HAZMAT’s exposition had made her feel rather nervous. Destroying Earth couldn’t be good, even if it was a simulation. Her parents were still alive in there! And her friends, and her boyfriend... If the simulation was destroyed, would they all just wake up? Somehow she doubted that. HAZMAT hesitated as she took Rea to a large set of sliding doors with large warning signs and futuristic-looking locks all over them.

“Earth was designed to rebuild this world, right? Well, my team and I believe that it’s a flawed system. So we’re going to take control, and our great leader will rebuild the world properly. But you guys? You’re dangerous. If you can block our virus out...” Rea’s blood ran cold while HAZMAT pressed a few buttons to open the doors. She was suddenly painfully aware of both her nakedness and the warning signs on the doors. If the other girl had to wear a HAZMAT suit and the world here was somehow destroyed... what would happen to her if she went outside?

“What else can you do?” HAZMAT finished as she reached for the final button. 

Suddenly Rea couldn’t control her body. She watched herself from far away as she grabbed HAZMAT and threw her over her shoulder. The widened eyes of the girl were the last thing she saw before Rea took a large, video-game like gun from her side and shot her right between the eyes. 

Rea wanted to vomit. A moment ago she had been about to die, but now she was a murderer. And the worst part was that her body was still being controlled by someone else. She was forced to watch as she swiftly removed the HAZMAT from the girl and pulled it on, pressing a button on its chest to materialise a helmet with a thick visor that obscured her face. An interface of blue and purple screens filled her vision, but she expertly disabled them like she’d been in that world before.

Then a crackling echoed through her mind and she could hear a voice.

_-an you hear me? Rea! Can you hear me?_

‘I can hear you... who are you? What’s going on? Are you controlling me-‘ Before Reas thoughts spiralled out of control, the other voice stopped her.

_Oh thank God you can! I worried that the chip was broken... Now listen to me, okay Rea? You have to remain calm. I’m going to help you to escape from this facility, alright? My name is Un. I escaped from a simulation just like yours. I can help you._

The voice which Rea couldn’t identify was oddly soothing in its strangeness. And as much as she was terrified, she didn’t really have a choice in the matter. So she steeled herself and asked the most important questions only.

‘Why is Earth important?’

 _Earth was a simulation designed to rebuild the world, as that girl told you. But she didn’t explain how. Earth is designed to go through every possible way that the Great War which destroyed our world could have been prevented and then choose people living within it who have the greatest potential to bring our world into a state of peace. You see, the War resulted in our world being ripped apart by nuclear weapons and the violent nature of humanity. We need people who can fix it._ As Un spoke, Rea watched herself use the girl’s dead body to pass various security measures until the doors finally slid open and she walked outside.

Had Rea been in control of her body at the time, she would have screamed.

The sickening musk of death and decay was heavy in the air, which was obscured by a thick yellow smog everywhere above Rea’s eye level. Below that, the ground was cracked and covered in half-melted human body parts crossed with wires and broken glass. Where there was solid ground it was the darkest black she had ever seen, as hardly any light made it to the ground. Rea found herself dropping the body to the ground as soon as the doors behind her were out of sight, then immediately breaking into a run far from the place.

‘War caused this?’ She half-whispered half-wailed to Un once she was calm enough to remember his/her (she couldn’t tell) existence. 

_Yes._ They said gravely before finally setting Rea down behind a huge hunk of twisted metal. She couldn’t tell what it had once been since it was so deformed, but the sight worried her immensely. What could have destroyed such a large object?

‘Why are you doing this?’ All of a sudden she was sick of asking questions and expecting answers. But at the same time, Rea needed to know.

_I hacked into your system on Earth so I could gain access to your brain. Then I sent microscopic nanobots to your location and installed a chip there to control your body. And all of it was so you’d be safe. You are not only immune to that facility’s virus, Rea. Actually, you are immune to all viruses, as well as the simulation itself. I can’t tell you why, so don’t ask. But you’re not the only one. So I’m taking you to our headquarters to meet the rest of us._

Rea listened to Un intently. Her head ached immensely, but she had finally been given some answers. Everything felt fuzzy and she couldn’t comprehend the gravity of the situation, but she was getting somewhere and that was a good start. She suddenly felt herself drifting somewhere.

 _I’ll wake you up when we get to HQ. See you then._ Those were the last words Rea heard before Un disabled her consciousness and sent her into a deep sleep.

*

“Who is she?” A female voice.

“Why’re you asking me? Un just told me to watch her!” Another female voice perhaps? Now Rea could see a little light, but she couldn’t distinguish the voice properly. Everything was all blurry and unfocused. It took her a moment to remember where she was.

“Both of you, shut up. Rea.” A new voice addressed her, this time familiar.

“Un...?” Rea queried softly as she opened her eyes. This time it was much easier to adjust to the bright lights of this new room. Rea looked around quickly to see a teenage boy standing before her. He was dressed in an olive green boiler suit which oddly accentuated his black hair and brown eyes, and he had a calm disposition as he extended a dark hand to her. Rea decided he looked Greek or Italian perhaps, but she didn’t know if those nationalities even existed in this world so she just took his hand and shook it.

“Yep. I’m Un, the one who was controlling you before. I apologise for my boldness, but it was necessary that we got you here as quickly as possible. May I introduce Josie and Yang?” Un gestured to the girl and the other more difficult to pinpoint person one by one as he introduced them. Josie was another dark girl with long hair in braids and deep soulful eyes. She smiled in a friendly manner and gave Rea a little wave. Yang was Asian, but Rea didn’t know exactly which country they might have been from back on Earth. They had a Chinese-sounding name, but didn’t really look Chinese. She decided to ask later. Yang tried to flick their dark hair in a manner which could have been cool had their hair been longer, laughed at their failure and shot Rea a lazy smirk in greeting as if they had just remembered she was there.

“Guys, this is Rea Sukimoto. I’m pretty sure she’s Japanese.” Un said in a surprisingly blunt manner. Rea was confused that her nationality was the first thing to be said about her other than her name. Then she realised that they were all speaking the same language too. Weird.

“Hey Rea! I’m Josie, and I’m responsible for our little universal translator project. Since you can understand what I’m saying right now, there’s one in your brain chip. I was from Ghana before I left Earth, so I speak English.” Josie’s warm smile and cheerful yet sensible attitude made Rea instantly like her. She returned the smile without hesitation. Yang cleared her throat, clearly eager for attention.

“I’m Yang obviously, and I’m totally the coolest one here! Except Un maybe. S-still! I’m pansexual, aromantic and intersex! Also I’m Korean, but I made Un give me a stereotypical Chinese name to see how many racists we have who we can throw out of HQ!” Over-enthusiastic and seemingly very invested in their labels, Rea found that she also liked Yang despite their overbearing personality. She would give them a chance at least. 

“You can ignore Yang if you want. They’re lying about everything they just said,” Un said with a mildly irritated sigh, “Are you going to make up a new identity for every new member?”

“Yup!” Yang said with a wink towards Rea, who stared at them incredulously, “But seriously, I’m a Taiwanese kid and I have the coolest girlfriend in the whole world!” Rea hoped they hadn’t lied a second time. It didn’t seem like it at least.

“Yang, you’re getting off track. We’re not on Earth anymore.” Josie said softly. Yang glared at her, but it lacked energy and didn’t seem serious.

“Still! B-but anyway, I’m the lead engineer on our special contraption. We’re gonna make an even better simulation than Earth!” Yang yelled before slapping their hands over their mouth and blushing, “Oops... Forgot about keeping that a secret.”

“Yang!” Both Josie and Un scolded in unison. The engineer in question simply shrugged.

“Cat’s out of the bag then. Yeah, we’re here to build a better simulation. That’s why we’re collecting immune people from all over Earth to come join us. We all speak different languages, but we have a universal translator in our brains so we can communicate. The purpose of our mission is mostly to ditch this world before it collapses.” Un explained, somehow changing the mood from light to dark in a matter of seconds.

“Well, I don’t know what I can do for you, but I’d love to help.” After seeing the awful state of the world outside, Rea decided that she might as well help these strange people. Besides, this was probably all some weird nightmare anyway. That was what she kept desperately hoping.

“Thank you for saying that. Most people aren’t quite so cooperative when we bring them here. I’ve been hit in the face enough times by terrified newcomers to know.” Un said, relieved. 

“I’ll try my best not to hit you.” Rea replied shyly, blushing in embarrassment as Yang laughed and Josie gave her another smile of an emotion she couldn’t identify. Un calmly approached her and handed her a folded up boiler suit similar to the one worn by the others from a shelf she hadn’t noticed before.

“We’ll leave you to put this on, then please join us outside, alright? It’s not a requirement that you wear the uniform when we’re in the main hub, but it’s safer to wear it in the upper tunnels so please try to whenever you can.” Un did not clarify what he meant by tunnels, but Rea assumed it meant that their HQ was underground somewhere. Perhaps that was why he knocked her out before taking her there- to keep it a secret. 

“Thank you.” She answered quickly upon realising that they were expecting a response. They all held their own versions of a kind smile as they filed out, leaving Rea behind in a cold, dark, damp room in some other world so far away from her home.

Indecision, confusion and incredible homesickness finally hit her all too late, and her body racked with sobs as she rode out the storm of emotion which overwhelmed her.

It would take a long time to get used to this strange new world. And for now, she wasn’t ready to accept it.

But soon, she’d have to. Whether she liked it or not.

**Author's Note:**

> What should have happened instead of that mess:
> 
> Rea Sukimoto is a Japanese girl who lived an ordinary life in present day Earth. She was killed in a car ‘accident’ one day and woke up in a strange facility run by teenagers. A girl in a hazmat suit tries to kill her, but her body is suddenly controlled by someone else who is capable of killing the girl. This person is Un, who telepathically communicates with Rea whilst controlling her body to keep her safe in this new world.
> 
> Rea is taken to the HQ of a mysterious organisation of people from all over the world who are working together to build a new, better world for themselves to live in. There are about fifty people in the organisation, each with their own set of skills and ideals, all working towards a common goal. Everyone is a teenager because the adults in the simulation are NPCs and most adults and non-simulation children in the real world are dead. 
> 
> They work over the next several months to finish the simulation, but the other organisations find them and try to ruin them. Eventually, a raid occurs on HQ and nearly everyone dies. Josie, Un, Rea and a few other OCs who haven’t been introduced yet survive, but they are forced to plug themselves into the partially unfinished simulation to escape (it sends them to space in the same way as Rin in Shelter). One person needs to sacrifice themselves to send them off, however. Un was going to undertake this role himself, but Rea steps forward and does it in his place.
> 
> The new simulation is the island from MGMT’s album ‘Oracular Spectacular’ (it was gonna tie into that too O.o) and everyone who lives there remembers Rea as a hero. They wait until a new world is found which can support them...
> 
> Prompt- Weird afterlife.
> 
> I had an almost identical prompt to this (255 I believe?) a while back, so my goal for this was to create a completely different 
> 
> Original Number- 128.


End file.
